


To Find Tomorrow

by Kalcifer



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 15:52:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10539675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalcifer/pseuds/Kalcifer
Summary: Maribelle may not be able to save herself from her arranged marriage, but if she's going to be a princess, the least she can do is make sure no one else is going to suffer the same fate. She's got a plan, and step one is attending the best college in Ylisse.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Listen. I know that absolutely no one was asking for a College/Arranged Marriage AU, but I love this ship too much to let that stop me. Besides, mixing tropes like this is far too fun, as evidenced by my plans for this thing. I hope you enjoy this nonsense.

Maribelle had known she was going to be a princess for as long as she could remember. When she was very young, it had been a source of great pride to her. She’d acted out her future role with her dolls, issuing grand proclamations and throwing festivals in her own honor. It was all very exciting. She couldn’t wait for the day when she could do it for real. A whole kingdom of people who had to do what she said, no more bedtimes or chores – it would be a dream come true.

It wasn’t until she was ten that the implications of this fact hit her. She was watching some silly animated movie, one of her favorites, and the villain had just been defeated. The prince proposed to the princess in some big romantic gesture. She wanted that sort of happy ending, and in that moment she realized she was never going to get it. She was never going to meet someone nice and fall in love. Her future had already been promised to a girl she’d never even met.

Maribelle’s first reaction to this realization was to lock herself in her room and cry. She knew she was being childish, that even at ten she should be more of a lady than that, but she wasn’t sure what else to do. No one could make her get married if she never left her room. She could just stay with her stuffed animals, and it would be fine.

Her plans were foiled that evening when her stomach reminded her that there was no food in her room. She tried to hold out as long as she could, but when it got to be too much she stepped into the hallway with her head held high. If there was no escape from her fate, she was going to face it with dignity. She would be the perfect princess-to-be.

She saw her father standing in the hallway, looking worried, and her composure crumpled. She flew into his arms, crying all over again. It just wasn’t fair. Shouldn’t she get a say in her own future?

When she was able to breathe without sobbing, she asked her father. “Why?” she choked out. Why did the Exalt care about her at all, why did she have to give up everything she dreamed of for a stranger, why was this happening to her?

Her father stroked her hair. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “You don’t deserve this, my dear. But the Exalt wishes to secure the Plegian border, and no one can defy his orders.”

For a moment, Maribelle hated her father. Had he even bothered to argue, or had he just sighed and nodded as if she didn’t even matter to him?

Her anger died quickly. She’d heard about the Exalt, whispered stories when her father thought she wasn’t paying attention. The ruler of Ylisse was supposed to be a terrible man, proud and belligerent and stubborn. Maribelle’s father was just a minor duke. If the Exalt turned his attentions to Themis, her father wouldn’t have a chance.

Maribelle took a deep breath, accepting her father’s attempts to console her. She wasn’t sure she was okay yet, but he was clearly upset himself. She didn’t want him to feel even worse. Still, as he led her to the kitchen to get supper, her mind was racing. She had been sold like an object, and she couldn’t change that. A duke couldn’t stand up to the Exalt. But Maribelle was going to be a princess, and if she couldn’t save herself, she was going to be sure it didn’t happen to anyone else.

Her mind made up, Maribelle let herself be distracted by food. There was no sense in letting herself get weak from hunger.

She spent the next few years absorbed in Ylissean politics. She made herself familiar with what was going on in the world, and kept a running list of things she’d change if and when she got the opportunity.

As a side effect, she found herself intimately familiar with the royal family, or at least their public personas. She knew far more than she’d like about the Exalt. To all appearances, he was exactly the sort of harsh and unyielding person who would marry his youngest daughter off to a stranger before either child was old enough to have a say in it. Maribelle far preferred Emmeryn. The crown princess managed to come off as a reasonable person without directly contradicting her father. She’d make an excellent ruler, Maribelle thought.

Chrom’s public appearances were rather less inspiring. The prince seemed nice enough, but he didn’t appear to have much interest in running the country. He was also more militarily-inclined than Maribelle would like, though given his father than might have been hard to avoid. Hopefully his sister would be able to rein him in.

But it was the youngest princess who interested Maribelle most, for obvious reasons, and of her there was no sign. She didn’t stand with her siblings for public events. She didn’t give a speech on her birthday. She didn’t even appear in tabloids or provoke scandals. If Maribelle hadn’t had a personal interest in the princess, she might not have known that she existed at all.

Maribelle really wasn’t sure what to make of her fiancée’s apparent nonexistence. When she was feeling optimistic, she told herself it was a sign that the princess was enough unlike her father for him to want to keep her out of the spotlight. On bad days, she could only assume she was so terrible even the Exalt thought she would ruin Ylisse’s public image.

Maribelle tried not to worry about it. It wasn’t like driving herself crazy would help, and she had bigger concerns than whether she’d like her future wife.

Her father was remarkably supportive of her plans. He bought her all the books she asked for, and even offered to find a private tutor. She turned that down so she could direct her own studies. She didn’t want to have to waste time convincing some stranger that she was more interested in modern women’s rights cases than the precedent set 300 years ago about who owned some horse.

Once, when she was studying in the living room, she caught her father watching her. He seemed both proud and melancholy. She couldn’t help but wonder if this seemed to him like a passing indulgence, some act of rebellion to comfort herself in the face of the unknown. If that was true, he clearly didn’t know how stubborn his daughter could be.

Her dedication didn’t waver as she got to junior high and then to high school. She joined the debate team and model government as soon as she was able. She knew it wouldn’t be very useful for learning the technicalities of the real thing, but she felt that being able to influence people would be at least as important.

When it came time to apply to colleges, her extracurriculars had the added bonus of practically securing here a place at any college she’d like. She decided on Lowell University. Its law program was one of the most prestigious in Ylisse, and only the best would be appropriate. The fact that both Emmeryn and Chrom either attended or had attended in the past was simply a bonus. It would make sense to begin networking while she could, after all. The idea that their sister might follow in their footsteps never so much as occurred to her.

While Maribelle knew she was planning to major in government, it seemed like a good idea to pick up some practical skills as well. To that end, she signed up for a course on staff magic in her first semester. She hoped it would be a good balance between time-consuming and actually useful. Even living in a castle, there was bound to be a use for a healer.

She went through the cutesy orientation programs with as much grace as could be expected. She was perfectly willing to discuss her favorite movie or other such banal things, but somehow when it came time to split off into smaller groups for activities she always found herself on the outskirts. She couldn’t say the experience was unfamiliar. She was well aware that she could be intense, and she was hardly going to change herself for the sake of some strangers. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t complete the ridiculous tasks just as easily on her own.

By the time orientation ended, she had resigned herself to another year of studying during lunch and conducting most of her social interactions through text. She’d had friends in high school, though admittedly not many. And if none of them had come to Lowell with her, well, that was just one less distraction. She would keep in touch with them without losing focus on her schoolwork.

Although, she thought as she lay in bed, that would leave her with quite a lot of time on her hands. Even she couldn’t read books during every meals.

No, it would be fine. She would make it fine, if she had to. She’d always managed before.

Her first morning of classes went about as she’d expected it to. Professors gave out syllabi, students sat together based on the bonds they’d somehow already formed, and she ignored them and took diligent notes.

She got out of her literature class and checked her schedule again, though she already knew what was next. _Staff Mastery 101_ , the paper read. She found that she was looking forward to this class more than most. She’d never actually tried to work magic before, and her inner five-year-old was squealing over the opportunity to do it now.

The class was meeting in one of the gymnasia, apparently. Maribelle supposed that would give them access to a steady stream of test subjects. It also meant she had to cross the entire campus in ten minutes.

She arrived to find a number of people already milling around the room. There were no apparent seats, though someone was sitting on the floor. She walked in as calmly as she could, though her heart was still racing from the speed with which she’d rushed over. At least it didn’t seem like the professor was here yet. Lateness on the first day was rather unprofessional, but it would give her a chance to calm down.

She was considering pulling out a book when one of the girls at the front of the room clapped her hands together. “All right!” she announced. “Let’s get started. I’m Professor Krakenburg, but you can call me Elise!” She gestured toward the girl standing next to her. “This is Professor Sakura Shirasagi, and we’re going to teach you about staves!”

Maribelle tried to hide her surprise. She’d taken both the professors to be students, as young as they looked. She was evidently not alone in this assumption. A girl who’d rushed in shortly after she had leaned over to whisper, “Wow. I would not have guessed that they were the teachers.”

Maribelle nodded politely. She hoped that her classmate would get the message that she didn’t want any distractions during the class. She wanted to make a good impression, not be seen as a gossiping teenager.

It seemed to work, thankfully. The other girl turned her attention to the front of the room, where Professor Sakura was talking about different types of staves and their effects. Maribelle pulled out a notebook and began taking notes. It was a little awkward to do so standing up, and she was already familiar with most of them, but it still seemed the thing to do. It would be a shame to be caught unawares on the first day.

When Sakura finished her list, Elise stepped forward. “Now that you know some of the things staves can do, it’s time to see them for yourselves! We’re going to pass around some of our collection now. These staves are from the trade school, so they may not be as polished as what you’re used to, but that’s part of the fun! You have to look past the way it looks to feel the energy of the staff.”

Sakura reached into the bag at her feet and pulled out an armful of staves. She began passing them around the room. “For now, just try to pay attention to how it feels. If you want, you can try to identify what yours does, but d-don’t feel bad if you can’t. It’s only the first day, after all.”

Though Sakura’s bag had apparently fit more staves than Maribelle would have expected, there still weren’t enough for everyone to have one. Maribelle found herself sharing one with the girl who’d commented earlier. She grinned at Maribelle. “Yes!” she said. “I was hoping we’d get to try these out.”

Maribelle smiled back politely. “Indeed.” She held out the staff to the other girl. “Would you like to hold it first, then?”

“Sure!” The other girl grabbed the staff and weighed it thoughtfully. “I’m Lissa, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

“My name is Maribelle,” Maribelle said automatically. Years of drilling manners into oneself did that to a person. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Ooh, that’s a pretty name!” Lissa said. She furrowed her brow. “Hmm, I think this might be a Rescue staff. It’s got that sort of whoosh-y feeling to it.”

Maribelle found herself smiling at that. She’d heard people talk about magic before, but never seen it described as “whoosh-y”. “May I try?”

Lissa practically shoved the staff at Maribelle in her excitement. “Yeah, see if you can feel it.”

As soon as Maribelle touched the wood, she could feel the energy just beneath the surface. Her father’s maids had all been trained in basic healing, so she’d had a vague idea of what to expect, but it was still a shock to have that much power at her fingertips. She had no idea why healing was seen as the lesser magic.

She took a deep breath and tried to focus on the specific energy signature. She could tell that it wasn’t a Heal staff, at least. She’d broken her arm falling off a horse a few years ago, and the staff that had been used on her then didn’t feel anything like this.

She didn’t think it did, anyway. She hadn’t exactly been focused on the staff at the time.

She considered it for another minute, but couldn’t seem to distinguish anything in particular about what it could be. Then she noticed Lissa watching her. She smiled as gracefully as she could, trying to hide her frustration. “I’m afraid I can’t tell very much from it at the moment,” she said. “I’m impressed that you can.”

Lissa laughed self-deprecatingly. “Well, it’s not much. I’ve just been around a few staves in the past, and even then, I’m mostly just guessing. I’m probably wrong…”

Maribelle frowned. She generally approved of modesty, but this seemed like something else. She was about to comment when Elise began to speak, effectively ending their conversation for the time being. “Okay! I hope you enjoyed that, because that’s pretty much what we’re doing this semester. I mean, we’ll be actually casting using the staves, but the basic premise is the same. Anyway!” She paused and collected her thoughts. “Does anyone want to try and guess what kind of staff they have?”

There was a moment of utter silence, the kind which is only found in a classroom full of students waiting for someone else to volunteer. Maribelle looked at Lissa and tried to silently encourage her to speak up. Even having met the girl half an hour ago, something seemed wrong about seeing her so withdrawn. Lissa just stared at the ground and refused to meet either Maribelle’s or Elise’s eyes.

“That’s okay,” Sakura said when it was clear no one was planning to venture a guess. “You’re only just starting out. But, uh, if you’re interested…” She pointed to each staff in turn, giving its name and a brief description of what it did and how one could identify it. Maribelle was unsurprised to hear that she was in fact holding a Rescue. She tried to catalog the sensation of holding it for future use. She could think of any number of situations where being able to identify and use what was essentially a teleporter would be helpful.

Sakura went back around and recollected her staves as Elise returned to explaining more of the theory behind them. “It’ll be easier to understand once you’ve used them a few times,” she said, “but we don’t want to use them up this early in the semester. Besides, there’s no one around who needs healing.”

Maribelle returned to her efforts at standing note-taking. She couldn’t resist sneaking looks at Lissa periodically, though. The other girl had seemed so bright and cheerful until Maribelle had complimented her, and then she’d practically shut off. She hoped she hadn’t somehow offended her.

The class wound to a close not long after that. Maribelle began packing up her things. She didn’t have any classes for a few hours, so she figured she’d probably get something to eat. After that, though, she’d have some time to kill. Perhaps she’d try texting Ricken. Then again, he was probably busy, and she didn’t want to bother him. Perhaps she’d just wander the campus for a while.

“So,” Lissa said, startling Maribelle out of her thoughts. “Do you want to get lunch together? I mean, if you’re busy I would totally understand, but I don’t really know anyone here and it would be nice not to eat alone. If you want, I mean.”

Maribelle found herself incredibly relieved that she hadn’t offended Lissa. It was silly, since they’d hardly interacted, but she seemed like a good person. It was nice to know that her own personality wasn’t completely off-putting.

“That sounds exquisite,” Maribelle said. She smiled.

Lissa’s own smile grew even wider in response. “Great! I checked the menus online, and it looks like there are chicken tenders someone, so obviously we have to go find them. Do you know where Caeda House is?”

“No, but I can find out.” Maribelle pulled up a campus map on her phone, and once they’d located Caeda House they set out.

Even with the map, they ended up getting hopelessly lost. They did eventually obtain their chicken tenders, though, and Maribelle couldn’t even bring herself to mind the time they’d wasted. Lissa proved to be exactly as bright as she’d first seemed, with just enough of a wicked sense of humor to startle Maribelle into laughing. Spending time with her was the most time Maribelle had had since she’d first arrived on the campus.

Perhaps college would be less lonely than she’d feared.


End file.
